Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On that line of thinking, we need railways to develop and to have long-term strategies because we need to move to public transport. We know the benefits that decarbonisation brings and about regional interconnectivity. It is important for any rail company to know there is a pipeline of funding and a vision at a strategic level in government. We have never seen as much investment in public transport as there is at the moment, including the national development plan, which assigned €35 billion to public transport projects. Will the witnesses outline the importance of that? Rail projects take a long time to develop, design, plan and construct, and then to get operational. We invited Northern Ireland Railways today and it is unfortunate it could not attend, because to have all-Ireland rail connectivity, we have to know that company is backed by whoever controls the finances in Northern Ireland. I am not sure that is the case. We see that clearly here with this Government and in the national development plan over the next ten years. Will the witnesses outline the importance of having that confidence that they have backing to develop projects?